The Jakarta City Council rejected the Jakarta Parks Agency's plan to create green spaces at the expense of 29 different gas stations during final deliberations on the 2008 city budget (The Jakarta Post, March 6, 2008).

The proposed budget was slashed by the city council and it is likely to result in a failure to meet the proposed target for green areas in Jakarta to cover 13.94 percent of Jakarta's total 63,744 hectares by 2010.

In 1965, green areas made up more than 35 percent of Jakarta and have been shrinking ever since. Currently, green areas in Jakarta account for only 9.3 percent of the city's area, far below the target of 30 percent set by the central government.

We must put a stop to disappearing green areas in Jakarta. Green areas are an important urban element that can help make cities self-sustainable and more livable.

Annual floods in Jakarta indicate an urgency for green areas in the capital, because they absorb rainwater and help to avert flooding.

The proportion of the council's proposed green areas decreased from 27.6 percent in the Jakarta 1965-1985 spatial plan to 13.94 percent in the current 2000-2010 plan.

New homes, condominiums, malls, hotels and commercial and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta over the last three decades. These new developments have come at the cost of green areas and have decreased water catchment areas, making the city more prone to floods.

The conversion of green areas in Jakarta has also been influenced by poverty and unemployment. Despite robust economic growth, the capital remains a locus for poverty and unemployment. Many poor city residents resort to living on canal and river banks.

The presence of squatters along the banks denies the potential for further green areas and limits the effectiveness of the city's drainage system at channeling flood water.

Due to limited employment opportunities in the formal sector, many people with limited skills and little education must make a living in the informal sector. Urban spaces supporting the informal sector in Jakarta are scarce, leading its members to occupy the only available land, typically green areas, including city parks.

The expansion of green areas in Jakarta is quite a challenge for the city administration to achieve because of a growing demand for urban infrastructure to accommodate economic growth, in addition to an increased presence of squatters and informal sector activities. However, this does not excuse the city council's decision to reject the plan to relocate 29 gas stations.

The city should prioritize the need for green areas over gas stations, rather than concede to the demands of their powerful owners.

Not only will the council's decision halt the expansion of green areas but it will also promote the use of motorized vehicles, increasing the city's carbon dioxide levels. Moreover, the decision averts the potential use for green areas to act as sponges for such pollutants.

The decision by the city council also reflects the government's unfair treatment of poor people and the informal sector.

There have been many cases of evictions of the city's poor residents, especially those working in the informal sector, for the sake of new green areas. For example, fish and flower traders on Jl. Barito were evicted in January 2008 in order to expand Ayodia Park.

This clearly indicates the expansion of green areas is more easily implemented through the clearing of informal sector sites rather than the relocation of gas stations or other formal sector activities.

The expansion of green areas must come at the cost of any land user not in compliance with the Jakarta spatial plan, otherwise the 13.94 percent target will not be reached by 2010.

The writer is an assistant professor of urban studies at Savannah State University in the U.S. He can be reached at rukmanad*savstate.edu.

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